1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for communicating media programs and the promotion thereof, and specifically for a method and apparatus for acquiring viewer-authored media, managing and rebroadcasting viewer-authored content generated from the viewer-authored media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, media program providers typically scour the Internet to find viewer-authored media such as video, mimes, JPEGs (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and GIFs (Graphical Interchange Format) and the like for viewer-generated content that might be useful for purposes of generating further interest in the media program among other viewers. After such viewer-generated content is discovered, the media program provider or their agents must track down the source of the viewer-generated content, confirm authorship and the right to convey rights to the viewer-generated content, and negotiate for the acquisition of such rights. All of these steps must be performed before the viewer-generated content may be copied or used in a way that implicates the owners copyrights to the viewer-generated content.
The problem with such as system is that (1) the process itself is expensive to implement (2) reproduction rights negotiated after the media program provider has expressed interest, rather than before, hence the reproduction rights can come at an artificially inflated price, (3) the process is time consuming to the point where many of the intended audience of the viewer-generated content have already experienced it, whether on the web or a social network, thus diluting its value. Accordingly, the media program provider appears to be a “me too” participant in the viewer generated content, rather than actively involved in its discovery and enjoyment, as other viewers. It also makes it more difficult for the media program provider to “brand” the viewer-generated content as being sponsored by or sourced by the media program provider, thus diluting the value of the content itself.
Further, the generation and transmission of viewer-generated media from viewer devices to the media program provider and the transmission of content generated from the viewer-generated media and back to the viewer devices can be throughput intensive. Although many viewers may wish to submit such viewer-generated content using portable devices such as smartphones, such devices typically communicate over third generation (3G) or fourth generation (4G) mobile data telecommunication networks. Such networks have limited bandwidth and viewers are typically charged for exceeding their allocated data transfer allotment for the billing period.
Further, it can be difficult for broadcasters to judge the potential popularity of viewer-generated content, especially in circumstances when the broadcaster is receiving large volumes of viewer-generated content from a large number of viewers. At the same time, the broadcaster must assure that the viewer-generated content will not offend a significant number of viewers or run askance of laws governing the suitability of content for broadcast (e.g. Federal Communications Commission rules against the broadcast of obscene or indecent programming or programming including profane language at specific times of the day.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,304, issued to Harwell, et al. on Jun. 11, 2013 discloses a system for receiving and distributing user-generated video content. The system receives video data from a client computing device, where the video data is captured using a camera connected to the client computing device in accordance with instructions executed on the client computing device to provide the video data in accordance with predetermined constraints. The video data is automatically transcoded into at least one different format based on user credentials associated with a user of the client computing device and/or attributes associated with the video data. At least one format of the transcoded video data defines a video file in a format appropriate for inclusion in a linear television programming transmission, and the transcoded video data is uploaded to a server for distribution. However, the Harwell system cannot support the transmission of such processed video data to other users in near real time.
What is needed is a system and method for in-the-moment acquisition, management, of viewer-authored content and dissemination of viewer-authored media generated from the viewer-authored content relevant to the demographic watching those media programs. The system and methods described below satisfy these needs. The disclosed system and method (1) simplifies the process for viewers to provide viewer-authored media to broadcasters, while minimizing the data transmission requirements between portable viewer devices and the broadcaster, (2) allows advance approval for the broadcasters to use that viewer-generated content to generate and disseminate viewer-authored-content and (3) provides for management of viewer-generated content (4) integrates with social networks that can be used to at least preliminarily assess the popularity and suitability of the viewer-generated content for broadcast to other viewers.